Dec. 5, 2003 - The Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau has picked a Texas tourism executive as its new president and CEO. 

Dale Lockett, the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau Assistant Executive Director will officially take over the Albuquerque position on Jan. 5. The bureau's search committee picked Lockett following a national search for a successor to outgoing president and CEO Mary Kay Cline who will retire Dec. 31. 

The announcement was made at a farewell party for Cline at the Convention Center Wednesday evening. 

Cline headed the bureau that markets Albuquerque as a convention and tourism destination since February 2000. Her annual salary was $118,000. 

The bureau would not disclose Lockett's salary. 

"The contract has been signed but the pay has not been disclosed," said bureau spokeswoman Tania Armenta. 

The bureau search committee picked Lockett from a short list of four candidates from SearchWide Executive Recruitment Experts, based in Stillwater, Minn. The company specializes in filling sales and marketing and convention service positions in hotels and executive positions in convention and visitors bureaus. 

Lockett will bring to Albuquerque 25 years of experience in convention bureaus, chambers and film offices, the bureau said in a news release. 

At the San Antonio bureau, Lockett oversaw daily operations for the past three years. The San Antonio bureau's budget for the current fiscal year is $14.3 million. Two of San Antonio's major tourism attractions are the River Walk, a three-mile stretch of riverside shops, restaurants and nightclubs, and The Alamo. 

The Albuquerque bureau has a budget of just more than $5 million a year. 

Prior to assuming his post in San Antonio, Lockett was president and CEO of the Convention and Visitors Bureau in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas. 

A native of Houston, Lockett spent several years with the El Paso Convention and Visitors Bureau and the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission in Missouri. 

Locket also held positions as director of operations for the U.S. Youth Soccer Association and executive director of the St. Louis Film Office. Lockett has a bachelor's degree in journalism from West Texas A&M University and earned a Certified Tour Professional designation from the National Tour Association. 

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(c) 2003, Albuquerque Journal. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.